Dealing with Congress and the Trump Administration Has Been a Roller Coaster Ride

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Time and time again, history has shown that we can’t count on leader McConnell or his minions for any conservative results on Obamacare repeal. All of the “rip it out root and branch" talk was just campaign lies.

By J. Allen Tharp

Following this unpredictable Trump administration has been a bit like taking a ride on a roller coaster, with ups and downs, twists and turns, and few of them where you expected them to be. One day the president will say something so mind-numbingly stupid that you would think the words came out of the liberal mouths of Obama or Hillary. Then the next day he surprises us by doing something that is actually conservative and good for the country.

Last week, for example, President Trump blurted out that the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House was mean, and that the Senate needs to make it more generous. This total flip-flop came after he praised the same bill as a “great bill” in a Rose Garden ceremony only a month ago.

Blurting out bizarre statements, that not only contradict reality but even contradict his own previous comments, hurts his credibility. More importantly, it hurts the chances of fully repealing Obamacare like he and the Republicans in Congress promised so many times. This statement will surely be used by liberal Democrats and liberal Republicans, over and over, to scuttle free-market reforms and to disrupt conservative efforts to get the Federal Government out of the insurance business.

Why Would Trump say something so destructive to the process, when negotiations are already hanging in the balance? Is he trying to give America whiplash with these “I’m over here, now I’m over there” statements? Or was there some manipulation behind the scenes by RINO Republicans like Reince Priebus and Mitch McConnell, who secretly oppose full repeal of Obamacare? Having seen how underhanded and Machiavellian this group is, I suspect the latter. I believe the RINOs have Trump’s ear and orchestrated this situation by planting the idea in his head that he needs to push for more Federal Government involvement and more spending.

Unfortunately, this type of thing may move the needle. We already have too many liberal GOP members of Congress that want the Federal Government to continue to play big Nanny, and this gives them one more piece of ammunition with which they can snipe at conservatives like Senators Lee, Paul, and Cruz who are pushing conservative solutions. Senators Barrasso and Toomey are also helping to move the Senate in the right direction on striking Obamacare taxes, striking Title I regulations, getting HHS out of regulating health care, and reforming Medicaid.

There are several other very liberal GOP senators working on the Senate version of the bill — like Collins, Cassidy, Portman, and Heller — who really like Obamacare. They are fighting to actually expand Medicaid even more than Obamacare did and even oppose per capita caps. They want to keep Obama’s Title regulations. They want to keep Obamacare taxes. They want to continue the Obamacare practice with the Federal Government paying 90% of Medicaid costs for able-bodied enrollees under Obamacare and only 57% for the poor and disabled people that Medicaid was intended to serve.

Time and time again, history has shown that we can’t count on leader McConnell or his minions for any conservative results on Obamacare repeal. All of the “rip it out root and branch” talk was just campaign lies.

Senator Cornyn’s comments praising Senator Cassidy indicate to me that Senate leadership is siding much more with the big government liberals like Collins and Cassidy than with conservatives. Regarding this bill, Cornyn said that Cassidy “knows, of what he speaks.” No such glowing praise for Paul, Lee, Cruz, Toomey, or Barrasso. Cassidy definitely does not “know, of what he speaks.” He doesn’t even have a clue. So it is imperative that we do all we can to push Congress in the right direction toward free-market reforms.

But during the same week that Trump put his foot in his mouth on Obamacare repeal, he also did something praiseworthy. He repealed Obama’s illegal executive action, the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). On the campaign trail, Trump promised to repeal DAPA and DACA. We now have one down and one to go. DACA is still in place although it is illegal, and he promised to repeal it.

So this is turning out to be quite the roller coaster ride. One thing for sure, though, is that this is a far site better than it would have been under a Hilary administration. Under her administration there would have been no ups and downs. It would have been 100% straight down, into socialism and statism.

As political activists, we all have to stay engaged to ensure that the ups outweigh the downs and not get discouraged when things go the wrong way. Getting the Federal Government out of the insurance business is a fight worth winning, and implementing free market solutions is a battle we must win.

We need your help pushing your elected US representatives to:

• Repeal all the Obamacare taxes. This will lower health care costs and put money back in to the pockets of the taxpayers, from whom this money was stolen for Obama’s wealth redistribution scheme.

• Reform Medicaid. The Medicaid program was already unsustainable and ineffective prior to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, so it is pure liberal insanity to not at least roll back the Obama Medicaid expansion.

• Empower states to regulate their own health care markets. The Senate must give states the ability to opt out of harmful federal Title I regulations. Neither healthcare nor the purchase of health insurance is a matter constitutionally delegated to the Federal Government. Therefore, this regulatory power must be reserved to the states.

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Allen is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the San Antonio-based Allen Tharp LLC and the Olde England’s Lion & Rose, as well as a minority partner in a chain of quick-service chicken restaurants called Golden Chick. It is noteworthy that Allen’s endeavors provide approximately 1,000 local jobs to San Antonians and pump almost $30 million into the local economy annually.
Having worked for over 27 years with the restaurant industry, he has served as a liaison for government and legislative affairs, as a speaker at various restaurant industry conferences, and is an active member of the president’s forum within his industry’s professional association. Mr. Tharp holds a B.A. degree in political science.

One Response to "Dealing with Congress and the Trump Administration Has Been a Roller Coaster Ride"

Harriet Aristeguieta June 21, 2017 at 6:18 pm

Draining the swamp in Washington is like pulling wisdom teeth! The Washington agenda is not the “We The People Agenda”. I don’t know how to get our message across to them? They seem to be one party against us! Keep up your good work!
Harriet